Eighteenth to twentieth centuries
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
Eighteenth-century English
cathedral clergy have a bad
name for torpor, slackness, resistance to change, worldliness,
non-residence, and pluralism.
At Salisbury such generalizations are not possible.
The rules and customs of canonical residence were
inherited from the past, and practically no change
was made in them. Pluralism had been well established for centuries; most of the canons and prebendaries held at least one benefice with cure of
souls outside the cathedral and an indefinite number of prebends at other cathedrals, but this was no
more than their predecessors had done in the preceding 300 years. In some ways there was lively
activity in the 18th-century close rather than torpor or quiet, and not all this activity was of a
secular character.
The charge of torpor was probably most justified in constitutional matters, for there were few
important developments and little legislation. The
18th-century bishops and chapter can hardly be
blamed for failing to overhaul the mass of medieval
statutes and customs. Worse was their failure to
maintain the two useful institutions of episcopal
visitation and Pentecostal chapters, by which
supplementary statutes had been made and abuses
corrected since the Reformation. No episcopal
visitations were held at the cathedral between
Bishop Burnet's visitation of 1697 and that of
Bishop John Wordsworth in 1888, and no Pentecostal chapters have been traced between 1670
and 1813 save for an exceptional one in 1740.
Nevertheless, some changes and corrections were
still made by acts of the residentiary chapter, which
met regularly to deal with the administrative business of the cathedral; (fn. 562) and for the more important
matters the bishop was occasionally invited to attend either as a Visitor or prebendary. In the mid18th century the chapter several times invited or
appealed to Bishop Thomas Sherlock to determine
its disputes, or to help in the interpretation and
adaptation of ancient statutes. (fn. 563) Quarrelsomeness
and divisions within the chapter had not died out
with the 17th century, though there was apparently more readiness to. ask for and accept the
bishop's advice. In 1740 Joseph Sager, a residentiary canon, was judged before Bishop Sherlock as
Visitor in a full Pentecostal chapter for misconduct
and for dividing the revenues of the common fund
unfairly. (fn. 564) Then, in the following year, the chapter asked the bishop's advice about their election
of a new communar. Canon Wynn proposed a
residentiary, Canon Whishaw, who was also a
prebendary of Winchester cathedral, and the objection was raised that a statute of 1516 said that
no canon of Salisbury who was also a residentiary
at another cathedral could be communar, because
the office required his continuous presence throughout the year. Bishop Sherlock declared that the
office of communar no longer required continuous
attendance, for its burdens were much lighter.
The abolition of obits had removed one of his
responsibilities; he no longer had to supervise
repairs on the common estates because repairs were
now done by the tenants, and payment of commons
was now made annually, not quarterly. If Canon
Whishaw had to go to Winchester for part of the
year, he could exercise his office by deputy during
that time. But it was important that all six residentiaries should accept the office in turn. (fn. 565)
This decision is interesting in showing how the
dean and chapter were now able to enjoy the fruits
of their increasingly prosperous estates with much
less effort than in previous centuries. Few attempts were made to raise the reserved rents, but
increasingly large fines were received on the renewal of leases. These fines had now become much
more valuable than the regular rents. This was
recognized in 1813 when an isolated Pentecostal
chapter declared that the 20 per cent. tax on the
reserved rents of prebends and dignities for the
fabric had become both burdensome and ineffectual, and imposed instead a 2½ per cent. tax on all
fines for the renewal of leases, which was expected
to bring in a considerably larger sum. (fn. 566)
A similar development was apparently taking
place on the estates of the vicars choral, though the
vicars were anxious to conceal it. Their attitude
provides perhaps the most striking example of
selfish opposition to change in the 18th-century
cathedral. Leases granted by them after 1660
show that the reserved rents of all their estates had
been raised in accordance with the award of 1624
to make up the annual stipends of the seven lay
vicars to £20 each. (fn. 567) After this the rents were
raised no farther, and the vicars choral, whose
numbers were apparently reduced to five sometime after 1725, (fn. 568) shared the steadily rising fines.
Throughout the 18th century they refused to consider increasing the lay vicars' stipends in any way,
although pressed to do so by the chapter. Shortly
before 1750 a dispute between the choral and lay
vicars was brought before Bishop Sherlock, who
decided that legally the lay vicars were only stipendiaries, and that the vicars choral could not be
compelled to pay them more than was laid down
in the agreement of 1624. (fn. 569) The chapter proposed
that until the value of the estates should further
increase the fifth choral vicar's place might be left
vacant and his stipend used to pay an extra £5 a
year to each of the lay vicars. The vicars choral
readily agreed to the reduction of their numbers to
four, but, on discovering that the reduction had
not been registered as permanent in the chapter
act book, refused to make the additional payments
to the lay vicars and simply divided up the fifth
stipend amongst themselves. (fn. 570) In 1793-4 the lay
vicars made a last determined effort to assert their
claims in formal petitions, first to the vicars choral
and then to the dean and chapter. (fn. 571) They declared
that they would be satisfied with the promised
extra £5 a year arid would cease to press for a
share in the fines. In the meantime they employed
the chapter clerk to search the muniments in support of their claims. The dean and chapter thought
their request very reasonable, but the vicars choral
unhesitatingly refused it. (fn. 572) The agreement of 1624
was finally produced, and convinced both chapter
and vicars choral that legal right was on the side
of the vicars choral to such an extent that the
chapter even forbore to insist that the fifth choral
vicar's place should be filled. (fn. 573) The attitude of
the vicars to this long dispute is illustrated by
two contemporary notebooks, one kept by Israel
Vanderplank, for many years procurator of the
vicars choral, the other by Robert Barret, a lay
vicar, who called his account 'A Narrative of the
Priest and Lay Vicars'. (fn. 574) Corporate feeling, now
well developed among the lay vicars, is illustrated
by the agreement of Highmore Skeats, a layman
in the church for over 50 years, to join in their
petition of 1793 in spite of his advanced age. He
advised them about the past, telling them that 'the
matter had often been on the carpet but always
frustrated', and urged them not to have too high
hopes. (fn. 575) Robert Barret wrote of 'the shameful
Jesuiticall way of reasoning' of the vicars choral.
He also attacked their competence, saying that
they were no use in the choir, and totally incapable
of singing the anthem or the service. 'Only one
attends at a time unless profits are to be had.' (fn. 576)
Allowance must be made for Robert Barret's
prejudice, but it seems likely that the music and
singing were coming to depend increasingly on the
lay vicars and choristers. About 60 years later the
dean and chapter stated that the four vicars choral
then attended the church services a week each in
turn, and appointed one of their number to be
present on Sunday. (fn. 577)
The history of the choristers suggests quite a
different picture of cathedral life. The choir was
augmented, salaries were readily increased, new
buildings were undertaken, new endowments acquired, and musical education and the grammar
school flourished. The revenues began to improve
about 1712, and in the following year the chapter
decided to increase the number of boys to eight.
The salaries of the two senior choristers were
raised to £12 a year each, the next two to £10,
and the four juniors to £8 each. (fn. 578) The 18thcentury choristers had good music teachers and
instructors, drawn chiefly from the organists and
lay vicars. They lived mostly at their own homes
or in small boarding houses kept by widows in the
city or close. On leaving the choir they were given
an apprentice fee or money to help with their
further education. Their endowment was increased
in 1724 when an estate was bought at Tilshead
for £900; five-sixths of the revenues from it went
to the choristers, and one-sixth to the cathedral
library. (fn. 579)
The 18th-century deans and canons included
a remarkable variety of men. Among the deans
were John Clarke (1728-57), a distinguished
mathematician and younger brother of Samuel
Clarke, the metaphysician; Thomas Greene
(1757-80), son of the Bishop of Norwich, who
was said to be artistic and finical, but who was also
apparently efficient; and Rowney Nowel (17806), uncle of Lord Wentworth, whose appointment
seems to have been mainly due to family and
political reasons. (fn. 580) They seem on the whole, however, to have been less distinguished than their
predecessors. From 1675 until 1954 no Dean of
Salisbury has been promoted to a bishopric, whereas in earlier centuries this was very usual. The
canons and prebendaries included many bishops'
kinsmen, and others of aristocratic birth, such as
Robert Sherard, a residentiary from 1758, who in
1770 succeeded to the Earldom of Harborough. (fn. 581)
Much pressure was put on the bishops by the
political parties to give prebends to their nominees.
Burnet, however, made his own decisions. Among
his most interesting appointments were those of
Peter Allix, a learned French protestant, to the
treasurership, and of several mathematicians and
theologians to prebends, including John Craig,
author of Theohgiae Christianae Principia Mathematica, a leading exponent of the new attempts to
apply the rules of science and reason to theology. (fn. 582)
Other canons and prebendaries took part in the
theological controversies of the time. Joseph Butler, author of the Analogy of Religion, Natural and
Revealed, to the Constitution and Course of Nature,
one of the most influential books of the century,
was prebendary of Yetminster Prima from 1721
to 1738, and John Bampton, founder of the
Bampton lectures at Oxford, was a residentiary.
Towards the end of the century Charles Daubeny,
Archdeacon of Salisbury, defended High Church
principles against both protestant dissent and
Roman Catholicism in his Guide to the Church. (fn. 583)
Particularly in the early 18th century the chapter
made efforts to improve the cathedral library. (fn. 584)
The catalogue of manuscripts was revised, and
Canon Isaac Walton, son of the piscator, and
Canon Wyatt between them gave £150 to appoint
a librarian. Their gift formed part of the purchase
money of the Tilshead estate in 1724, from which
a salary of about £7 or £8 a year was henceforth
paid to a librarian. (fn. 585) Shortly before this the chapter
had tried unsuccessfully to recover some of the
cathedral manuscripts which had found their way
to the Bodleian Library. (fn. 586) Canons and prebendaries continued to take a lively interest in the
cathedral's history and muniments. Several more
historical collections, including those of Canon
Isaac Walton, were compiled from the muniments
and handed down with Drake's collections. The
antiquaries, Thomas Tanner and Richard Rawlinson, had permission to work in the muniment
room, with the result that many copies of Salisbury
documents are now available in their manuscript
collections at the Bodleian. (fn. 587) Rawlinson published
his History and Antiquities of the Church of Salisbury in 1723, Francis Price, a clerk of the works,
his architectural Descriptions of the Cathedral in
1753 and 1774, and William Dodsworth, the
cathedral verger, his Guide to Salisbury Cathedral
in 1792 and his Historical Account of the Episcopal
See and Cathedral Church in 1814. (fn. 588)
Other interests of the cathedral clergy were
music and hospitality. Salisbury in the 18th century was at the height of its fame as a centre of
music and fashion, and the cathedral clergy and
choir played a leading part in the many musical
activities. Interest in the cathedral music was
shown by the installation of a magnificent new
organ in 1710 over the entrance to the choir. (fn. 589)
In addition music meetings were held at the
canons' houses in the close; concerts were organized in the city by the lay vicars and cathedral
organists, and music festivals were held annually
in the cathedral from about 1744 until 1787. (fn. 590)
All these activities were supported by the gay,
intelligent, and fashionable society which had its
centre in the cathedral close and which took much
interest in the cathedral sermons and services.
Large congregations attended on Sundays, on festivals, and in Lent. (fn. 591)
The drastic dealings of the 18th-century bishops
and chapter with their cathedral fabric also help
to contradict the idea of the period as being one
of slackness and torpor. A description of the
church frequently attributed to Daniel Defoe in
his Tour of the Whole Island of Britain in the early
mid-18th century says that 'the choir had been
made to resemble a theatre painted white with
golden panels and groups and garlands of roses and
other flowers intertwined round the top of the
stalls' and that the episcopal throne 'would make
a fine theatrical decoration'. (fn. 592) In fact Defoe's
opinion was very different. In 1724 he wrote that
'the Painting in the Choir is mean and more like
the ordinary Method of common Drawing Room
or Tavern painting than that of a Church'; the
third edition of his book in 1742 agreed that the
church 'now makes a better appearance than it has
done'; but in 1748 in the fourth edition he said
that it was 'hurt by the paltry old Painting in and
over the Choir, and the White washing lately
done, wherein they, very stupidly, have everywhere drawn black lines, to imitate Joints of
Stone'. (fn. 593) Next, in 1758, the chapter decided to
take down the spire and tower of the belfry, and
the southern part of the library, on the ground
that the whole library was too heavy to be properly
supported by the cloisters; in 1762 six bells from
the belfry were ordered to be sold, only two being
reserved for the church's use. (fn. 594) In 1778 and 1779
the cathedral was closed for nearly two years while
the choir was lengthened, the seats in the nave
taken away, and pews or closets with galleries over
them made on each side of the choir behind the
stalls. The object was to make it possible to deliver
sermons as well as to hold morning and evening
prayers in the choir. Previously the whole congregation had moved from the choir to the nave for
the Sunday sermon. The Earl of Radnor now had
the inside Hunger ford Chapel moved into the
choir to serve as his family pew. (fn. 595) Finally, between
1789 and 1792 the most drastic changes were
made, on the initiative of Bishop Shute Barrington, by the fashionable architect, James Wyatt,
whose aim was to achieve vistas and light. The
13th-century choir screen was removed; most of
the remaining medieval stained glass was broken up
and the lead sold; clear glass was put in its place;
the Lady Chapel was thrown open to the church
and the monuments were moved about. Outside,
the Beauchamp and Hungerford chapels and the
13th-century belfry were pulled down. The belfry
was now regarded as a useless structure which
blocked the view of the cathedral from the High
Street gate and gave opportunities for carousal in
its ale house. The ground of the churchyard was
drained and levelled, the gravestones buried, and
for the future the cloister garth was to be the
cathedral cemetery. In 1792 George III, his
queen, and six princesses attended the reopening
of the cathedral and admired the 'improvements'. (fn. 596)
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
In the early 19th century,
particularly from about 1815
until 1840, the chapter passed
through one of the most dangerous periods of its history,
comparable in threats to its existence with those
of the Reformation and Commonwealth. The
chief cause was the failure of the Established
Church to provide for the spiritual needs of the
growing industrial towns. Criticism concentrated
on the immense and supposedly increasing wealth
of the higher clergy, some of it drawn from valuable industrial property, and on the lives of leisure
lived by many canons and prebendaries. (fn. 597) Such
criticism may have carried less weight against a
chapter such as Salisbury, which drew its revenues
mainly from agricultural land and tithes in counties little affected by the Industrial Revolution.
Nevertheless, feeling rose high against all chapters,
and the result was intervention by Parliament in
the affairs of the Church. The biggest changes in
revenues and organization ever made in the long
history of Salisbury chapter were imposed by
the Cathedrals Act of 1840. In comparison the
Reformation changes appear conservative in the
extreme. Yet continuity in cathedral life was
maintained. Moreover, the survival of the cathedrals was due not solely to the effectiveness of
parliamentary intervention, but largely to reforms
and new ideas of the purpose of a cathedral expressed from within. Administrative reforms had
already begun in the late Georgian Church, and
the influence of the Oxford movement became
powerful at the cathedral in the late 1830's.
The first two of the four royal commissions
which investigated conditions at the cathedrals in
the 19th century were concerned almost solely to
discover how large a part of their revenues could
reasonably be taken from them to establish new
parishes in the industrial towns and to supplement
the stipends of the poorer parish clergy. The first
commission, inquiring into Ecclesiastical Revenues
and Patronage, concluded that the net income of
the whole church was under £3,500,000 a year,
of which the bishoprics had about £157,000,
and the cathedral and collegiate churches about
£284,000; the second, investigating Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues, decided that the most
drastic transfers of cathedral property to a central
Ecclesiastical Commission could produce only
about £134,000 a year for use in the parishes. (fn. 598)
Salisbury was among the chapters whose revenues
were tending to decrease, because of the agricultural depression. (fn. 599) From being one of the richest
English chapters in the Middle Ages it had by
1835 become one of the poorest, at least in the
yield of its common fund. On a three-years'
average the annual income from Salisbury's common fund was said to be about £3,176 gross or
£2,800 net, about £2,000 of the gross income
coming from fines, about £800 from reserved
rents, about £150 from interest on investments,
and the remainder from other small sources. (fn. 600) On
a seven-years' average it was rather higher and
allowed an annual income of about £556 to the
dean and about £500 to each of the six residentiary canons. (fn. 601) Among cathedrals of the Old
Foundation, only the common funds of Lichfield
and York were smaller than this. (fn. 602) The revenues
from the separate estates of dignities and prebends
were even more variable and uncertain because
leases were fewer and fines paid less often. During
the three years ending in 1831 the prebendary of
Hurstbourne and Burbage received only £50 a
year in rents with a £15 fine, averaging an additional £5 a year; and the prebendary of the
'golden' prebend of Teignton Regis had only his
regular income of £248 a year net in rents, tithes,
woods, and dividends-with fines of £330 spread
over the three years. Yet in the same period the
dean had an average annual income of about
£2,679. (fn. 603) Among deans of the Old Foundation
only those of St. Paul's and of Lincoln had higher
incomes, while at Salisbury he was by far the
richest member of the chapter. The treasurer,
who was also a residentiary, came next with an
average of about £1,500 a year; the chancellor
and precentor, who were non-resident, had about
£1,000 and £750 a year respectively, but this was
drawn almost entirely from a few large fines,
which would not recur for some time; their
regular annual income from reserved rents still
amounted for the chancellor to only £27 net, and
for the precentor to £62 net. (fn. 604) The same difficulties apply to any attempt to draw conclusions
about the revenues of the vicars choral. For the
three years their fines averaged £37, and their
annual revenues were given as about £437 gross
or £243 net, allowing about £60 a year to each
of the four vicars in addition to their commons
money from the dean and chapter. (fn. 605) In other
years, however, the state of the vicars' revenues
was doubtless quite different.
The vicars choral were the only class for whom
the Commissioners recommended increased stipends, so that they need no longer hold other
benefices at a distance from the cathedral. The
Commissioners thought, however, that the vicars'
corporations should be dissolved and their property
surrendered. (fn. 606) These last proposals met with so
much opposition that they were eventually dropped
from the Cathedrals Act, which declared only
that 'minor canons' (a name then considered to be
more suitable than Vicars choral') should receive
not less than £150 a year and hold no benefices
more than 6 miles from the cathedral. For the
chapters, drastic confiscations of revenues were
ordered. All the separate estates of Salisbury's
dignities and prebends were to be transferred to
the Ecclesiastical Commission and their patronage
to the bishop, subject only to the safeguarding
of existing interests. Two of the six residentiary
canonries were to be dissolved when their holders
died, and their shares in the common fund paid
to the Ecclesiastical Commission. The remaining
common property was expected to provide annual
incomes of about £1,000 for the dean, who was to
reside for at least eight months a year, and about
£500 for each of the four residentiary canons
residing for at least three months a year. The
churches belonging to the common fund might
still be given by the chapter to its own members,
to non-residentiary canons, to minor canons, or
to others with at least five years' service in the
diocese. The close chapter was to lose its right of
electing residentiaries, who were to be nominated
by the bishop, while the Crown kept the right of
appointing the dean by letters patent. As a concession to those who opposed the abolition of all
non-resident canons or prebendaries the bishop
was allowed to appoint honorary non-resident
canons and dignitaries so long as none of them received any emolument from his office. Lastly, the
chapter was required to propose to their visitor
for his approval alterations in its statutes to make
them consistent with its changed constitution.
The altered statutes were then to be submitted to
the Ecclesiastical Commission and, if approved,
laid before the queen in council. (fn. 607)
The chapter was thus far more firmly subjected
to external control by Parliament, Ecclesiastical
Commission, and bishop than it had ever been
before. Its constitution had been altered and a
large part of its revenues confiscated on the recommendation of men with very little knowledge
of its history, purpose, or responsibilities. The
slackness and conservatism of the early 19th-century chapter, like those of the 18th-century chapter, seem to have been exaggerated by its critics.
Throughout the period there were some canons
at Salisbury alive to their responsibilities and intere'sted in the needs of the Church, though they did
not make any big changes until after the visits of
the royal commissioners. The commissioners remarked that the cathedral fabric had been kept
in sound repair by the chapter's efforts and contributions, although the fabric revenues had become quite inadequate. (fn. 608) The grammar school
had declined after the retirement of Dr. Skinner
in 1801, partly owing to an alarming fall in the
choristers' revenues, which meant that there was
little competition for the post of head master.
Throughout the inquiries of the royal commissioners the dean was Hugh Nicholas Pearson,
whose special interests were in the spread of
Christianity overseas, particularly in India. In
1836 Thomas Burgess was succeeded as bishop by
Edward Denison, one of the youngest bishops
Salisbury has ever had, a Fellow of Merton, who
was strongly influenced by the Oxford Movement.
He persuaded Walter Kerr Hamilton, another
Fellow of Merton and his curate at St. Peter'sin-the-East, Oxford, to come to Salisbury, where
he made him successively a residentiary canon
and treasurer in 1841 and precentor in 1843. (fn. 609)
Hamilton had been brought up as an evangelical
but had gradually come under tractarian influence
at Oxford. He had energy, vision, and deep religious conviction. In 1855 he succeeded Denison
as bishop. Together they were the outstanding
figures in the movement for cathedral reform at
Salisbury in the mid-19th century.
Hamilton's appointment as precentor gave him
authority to suggest reforms in the cathedral services and choir. He found that Holy Communion
was celebrated only on the first Sunday in the
month, on great festivals, and on Assize Sundays
after the morning service at 10. 30. He introduced
an additional celebration on Sundays at 8 a.m.
which he nearly always took himself. He revived
the daily early morning service; persuaded the
dean to arrange for a Sunday afternoon sermon in
the choir in the summer months, himself took
over from a vicar choral the preaching on festivals, (fn. 610) and ordered that the cathedral music should
always be arranged beforehand by the canon in
residence and the organist (fn. 611) About 1851, new
and more stringent rules of attendance were drawn
up for the lay vicars, and fines were imposed for
absence. In order to augment the choir three
supernumerary laymen were appointed and paid
by the chapter. Altogether, by 1854 the dean and
chapter were spending £281 a year from their
common fund on the supernumeraries and on increasing the seven lay vicars' stipends to £50 or
£60 a year each. (fn. 612) The vicars choral had triumphantly maintained their claim to pay the laymen
only £20 a year each, and since the investigation
of their revenues in 1835 the chapter had ceased
to expect them to contribute more. It apparently
also forbore to insist on their regular attendance
at the choral services, though Canon Hamilton
urged that at least two of the four should be required to take a full part in each service. (fn. 613) He was
particularly interested in the choristers, and played
an important part in the struggle to reform their
school in the close. (fn. 614) The choristers' property had
now greatly improved in value. It was already
bringing in about £530 a year, and the chapter
expected it would soon yield about £800 a year.
As the revenues rose they proposed gradually to
increase the number of choristers to sixteen. (fn. 615)
Both Denison and Hamilton did much to make
the cathedral a centre of education for the diocese, (fn. 616)
and to restore the fabric. The restoration of the
cloisters was begun in Bishop Denison's time; and
Bishop Hamilton initiated the restoration of the
chapter house in his predecessor's memory. (fn. 617) In
1849 the nave was first opened to the public free
of charge between 10.15 a.m. and 4 p.m., and
from 1865 visitors were also allowed to see the
choir, chapter house, and cloisters for a charge of
6d. payable to the fabric fund. (fn. 618) Since then the
throng of visitors to the cathedral has steadily
increased.
The progress of the revival at Salisbury is well
illustrated in the reports of the royal commission
appointed in 1852 to inquire into the state of
cathedral and collegiate churches. The dean and
chapter's replies about the work then being done
were satisfactory, their returns on the historical
development of their constitution were the most
careful and detailed of any, (fn. 619) and their suggestions
for further developments at the cathedral among
the most interesting. The returns, compiled by
Canon Hamilton with the approval of Henry Parr
Hamilton, who had succeeded to the deanery in
1850, entailed much research and helped to reveal
how ruthlessly the framers of the 1840 Act had
changed the constitution of the cathedral without
adequate historical knowledge. The attitude of
the Cathedral Commissioners of the 1850's was
very different. Their object was to increase the
usefulness of the cathedrals, and promote the
'high and holy purposes' for which they had been
founded. (fn. 620) Many of the proposals, however, including some by Canon Hamilton in his famous
Letter on Cathedral Reform
(fn. 621) and in his replies to
the Commissioners, had their origin more in ideas
of what was thought to be the purpose and work
of a cathedral in the early centuries of the Church
rather than in the Middle Ages, when it had
existed chiefly to provide the constant round of
services within its walls. A new idea of the purpose of a cathedral was developed. The object
now was to make it the diocesan centre of religious
life, education, and music, with the chapter acting
as the bishop's council in diocesan work and administration, and the cathedral clergy taking a
leading part in ecclesiastical work in the city,
directing educational, musical, pastoral, and charitable activities and attending the meetings of the
increasing number of church societies. For this
Canon Hamilton declared that it would be necessary to enforce constant residence of at least nine
months a year on the residentiary canons as well
as on the dean and vicars choral, and to forbid
them to hold other benefices with their canonries. (fn. 622)
It was thought that the biggest breach made in the
medieval constitution by the disendowment of the
non-resident canons might be partly repaired by
bringing them into closer connexion with the
cathedral through more frequent meetings of the
greater chapter, the revival of the annual Pentecostal chapter, and their regular performance of
their annual preaching turns at the cathedral. It
was claimed that an active and scholarly body of
non-residents could still do valuable work as advisers of the close chapter, while away from the
cathedral they would widen its basis and strengthen
its links with the diocese. (fn. 623) Most of the nonresident canons were now beneficed clergy of the
diocese. Bishop Denison had made a practice of
appointing rural deans of the diocese and scholar
clergy interested in local ecclesiastical history;
among his nominations were William Dansey,
author of Horae Decanicae Rurales, and William
Palmer, author of Origines Liturgicae, a book
which was influential in reviving interest in the
history of the liturgy and prayer book. (fn. 624) Other
constitutional changes proposed to the Commissioners seemed to favour a greater approximation
to the simpler centralized constitutions of cathedrals of the New Foundation. It was urged that
the dean should be given greater power over the
chapter, that the bishop should have more power
and rights at the cathedral, that the minor corporation of vicars choral should be dissolved and
its members brought under closer control by the
dean and chapter, and that the number of lay
vicars should be doubled. (fn. 625)
Obviously all these proposals required more
money than had been left to the cathedral by the
Act of 1840, and the Commissioners and chapter
hoped to obtain more profits from the remaining
estates by discontinuing the old system of granting
beneficial leases, and by more modern methods
of estate management. (fn. 626) A statute of 1851 had
given facilities for the voluntary enfranchisement
of leasehold estates and the purchase of leasehold
rights by the chapters, (fn. 627) but opinion at Salisbury
was in favour of vesting all the property for a
time in the hands of a central commission, for
more profitable management, on condition that the
resulting increased revenues should be used for the
chapter's purposes and not paid to the Ecclesiastical Commission as was ordered in 1851. (fn. 628) In
particular it was thought desirable that the residentiaries should have larger and regular incomes,
and the Cathedral Commissioners agreed that if
canons were to be expected to reside for nine
months a year and to give up their other benefices
their income should be raised to £750 and that of
the dean to £1,500. (fn. 629)
No legislation resulted from the Commissioners'
reports, but they drew attention to the chapter's
work and problems. In 1855 a further Order
in Council arranged that the annual incomes of
the residentiaries should be maintained at £500
by the Ecclesiastical Commission. (fn. 630) Then in 1861
the dean and chapter surrendered the property of
the common and fabric funds (apart from their
houses in the close) to the Ecclesiastical Commission in return for an annual payment of £4,200,
until they should be re-endowed with estates yielding an equivalent regular income, and a lump sum
of £10,000 to restore the cathedral fabric. (fn. 631) Shortly afterwards, in 1868, the corporation of vicars
choral also surrendered their property to the Commission in return for an annual payment of £960
and a lump sum of £1,200; but it was unable to
obtain any promise of future re-endowment with
landed property. (fn. 632) In 1875 the dean and chapter
were re-endowed with property in Stratfordsub-Castle, Bemerton, Milford, Winterbourne
Gunner, Figheldean, Laverstock, Clarendon, and
the parish of St. Thomas, Salisbury, which was
expected to provide them with a regular income of
about £4,700 a year. Of this £3,000 was to be
set aside for the stipends of the dean and canons,
and the remaining £1,700 with the income from
their property in the close, used for the cathedral
services and fabric and for other liabilities. Any
surplus was to be accumulated for making good
deficiencies in subsequent years. (fn. 633)
From 1863 to 1876 the restoration of the
cathedral had been proceeding under the direction
of Sir Gilbert Scott. The grant of £10,000 from
the Ecclesiastical Commission proved completely
inadequate. In 20 years over £82,000 was spent
on the west front, the Lady Chapel, transepts and
choir, and on the installation of heating. Much
of the money was raised by subscription and gifts,
including a new organ from Miss Chafyn-Grove. (fn. 634)
By the 1880's the big changes and experiments
were over and the following period was one of
consolidation and of adaptation to changed conditions. Under its scholarly and devout bishops,
George Moberly and John Wordsworth, and with
learned, able, and vigorous residentiaries such as
Dean Boyle, Archdeacon Lear, and Chancellor.
Swayne, (fn. 635) the chapter reached a new peak of
spiritual prestige. In addition to their cathedral
duties, the clergy were taking a leading part in
every kind of ecclesiastical activity of the city and
diocese. Among the residentiaries in 1884 were
two archdeacons of the diocese, the chancellor, who was secretary of the Diocesan Board of
Education, and the treasurer, who was secretary
of the Board of Foreign Missions. The precentorship was held by the dean, an arrangement
favoured by Bishop Moberly, but not by Bishop
Wordsworth. (fn. 636) Of the vicars choral, one was
vice-principal of the Theological College; another
religious instructor of the choristers; the third,
cathedral librarian and parish priest of the close,
and the fourth curate of Stratford-Sub-Castle. (fn. 637)
The expansion of the choir and of other cathedral activities continued. By 1885 there were 18
choristers and 4 supernumerary laymen in addition to the 7 lay vicars. The stipends of the lay
vicars had been raised from chapter funds to about
£93 and that of the organist to £150 a year. (fn. 638)
The chancellor's divinity lectures were revived
in 1894. (fn. 639) Careful catalogues were made of the
printed books in the cathedral library by S. M.
Lakin, the librarian and vicar choral, and of
the manuscripts by E. Maunde Thompson of the
British Museum; (fn. 640) catalogues of the muniments
were soon to be made by the bishop's brother,
Canon Christopher Wordsworth. Non-resident
canons led the way in the study of local history and
liturgy. Canon William Henry Rich Jones published his important Fasti Ecclesiae Sarisberiensis
between 1879 and 1883, and his edition of the
cathedral statutes in collaboration with Canon
Dayman in 1883. Rather later Canon Christopher
Wordsworth's immense output of historical and
liturgical work encouraged the growing interest
in the cathedral's history and in the medieval Use
of Salisbury which has continued into the 20th
century. In 1888 Bishop Wordsworth held the
first visitation of the cathedral since 1697. No
corrections were found necessary, though changes
were suggested and earnestly discussed. At the
end the bishop paid tribute to the whole cathedral
body. (fn. 641) A few years earlier the royal commission,
appointed in 1879, had commented in similar
terms in its final report on the immense change
which had taken place generally in the cathedrals
since the 1830's and in the feeling with which
they were regarded by lay people. Services had
been improved and multiplied and attracted public
interest in a way which 50 years earlier could
scarcely have been anticipated as possible; the origin and idea of cathedrals had been more studied
and understood; the capitular body was interested
in the whole diocese, and the diocese had claims
on the chapter. (fn. 642)
Nevertheless, there were still, as at all periods
in the cathedral's history, frictions and jealousies
within the cathedral body, and constitutional
problems to be solved. The vicars choral were
restive and jealous under the chapter's control and
resented their description as 'inferior clergy'. The
dean and chapter proposed the dissolution of the
minor corporation as the only means of giving
them proper control over the vicars. (fn. 643) At the
same time the non-resident canons felt that the
dean was denying them their just privileges as
members of the greater chapter. In 1879 29 nonresidents signed a petition to Dean Hamilton for
the revival of the annual Pentecostal chapter, according to the recommendations of both dean and
chapter and Cathedral Commission in 1854, but
the dean refused to consider it. In 1880 a long
statement laid before the Cathedral Commission
the various ways in which the non-residents
thought they should be allowed to take part in the
cathedral's work. Their claims received some
support within the close chapter from Chancellor
Swayne. (fn. 644) Eventually this problem was solved by
Bishop Wordsworth after Dean Hamilton's death.
At his visitation in 1888 he announced that he
wished to experiment in holding Pentecostal chapters, and asked the dean to summon one annually
at least until his next visitation. He also proposed
a special annual festival for the commemoration of
the cathedral's benefactors on the Tuesday after
All Saints which he hoped would give further
opportunities for meetings of the whole chapter. (fn. 645)
Other disagreements within the chapter concerned
the choristers' school. Since Canon Hamilton had
ceased to direct it, the chapter's policy had been to
use the growing revenues from the choristers'
fund to increase the number of choristers while
discouraging any expansion of the school and forbidding the master to take boarders in addition
to the choristers. (fn. 646) Bishop Wordsworth, however,
established a new school in the close which largely
filled the place of the former cathedral grammar
school, and in the 20th century the choristers'
school has developed into a preparatory school for
the public schools. (fn. 647)
A more intractable problem was that of the
cathedral statutes. Its immensity had been realized
by the Cathedral Commissioners of the 1850's,
who, like earlier would-be legislators for the cathedral, were dismayed by the mass of obsolete and
contradictory medieval statutes and customs. They
had recommended an extensive remodelling of the
statutes of all the cathedrals of the Old Foundation to make them conform with recent legislation
and existing custom. (fn. 648) The Commission appointed
in 1879 doubted whether it had legal power
to make permanent statutes, but by 1884, in cooperation with the dean and chapter, it had
prepared a set of draft statutes, consisting of 22
articles, designed to supplement the ancient statutes
and customs. (fn. 649) The draft statutes, however, were
framed on the supposition that the corporation of
vicars choral was dissolved. This was not to be done
for another half-century, and the draft statutes,
although they found favour with bishop, dean, and
chapter, (fn. 650) never became effective. Chapter acts or
ordinances were still made by the close chapter for
its own government, (fn. 651) but the constitution as a
whole remained in many ways unrelated to the
statutes.
The most serious problem, however, lay in
the chapter's falling income and a long period of
increasing financial difficulties, which checked
further expansion of the cathedral's work. The
communar's accounts for 1878 still showed a
surplus of £625 over the chapter's estimated net
income of £4,700 a year, (fn. 652) but this had vanished
by 1885 when the Cathedral Commissioners published their final report. Then they stated that the
recent agricultural depression had seriously affected
the chapter's income. The position was in fact
more serious than it might have been under the
old system of small reserved rents and fines; then
it took a very great agricultural depression to affect
the value of a fine paid for the renewal of a lease,
but now the rack rents were immediately affected.
The Commission pointed out that the changes
made in the period of prosperity had not resulted
in benefits to the chapter. The increased revenue
from the surrendered lands had gone to the Ecclesiastical Commission, while the chapter was left
to deal with the alarming fall in revenue from
those which had been returned to it. (fn. 653) In 1888
the income of each residentiary was not half of the
£500 which had been intended when the estates
were transferred. (fn. 654) In 1896 an exchange of
property was arranged with the Ecclesiastical
Commission, but the incomes of dean and canons
continued to fall and it was only in 1917 that the
Commission eventually agreed to make them up
to £1,000 and £500 a year respectively, (fn. 655) and by
this time the actual value of the money was drastically reduced. A temporary surplus during the
following years had to be paid to the Commission
by the terms of the 1917 agreement. (fn. 656) In 1927 a
Cathedral Commission of the Church Assembly
declared that the chapter's work was cramped by
financial anxiety; the canons' incomes were no
longer sufficient to maintain the large canonical
houses and expenses of residence in the close, and
there had been a big increase in the cost of the
cathedral services and fabric. (fn. 657) For some time
nothing was done. In 1940, however, it was
decided to suspend one residentiary canonry and
to divide its income among the dean and three
remaining residentiaries in order to give the dean
£1,200 and the canons £600 a year each. (fn. 658) Between 1944 and 1951 the fourth canonry was
temporarily restored through the generosity of an
anonymous donor. (fn. 659) Then the number of residentiary canons returned to three, and the Church
Commissioners agreed to make up their incomes
to £800 a year each and that of the dean to
£1,400, (fn. 660) that is, to about the sum suggested as
reasonable for them by the Cathedral Commissioners of 100 years earlier.
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Under conditions of increasing financial stringency, and a
changing attitude to church
attendances, the 20th-century
chapter has maintained the work
of the cathedral, increased the services, raised the
laymen's stipends, reached constitutional decisions,
and preserved the cathedral fabric. The influence
of Anglo-Catholicism may be seen in the institution in 1915 of a daily communion service, and
from 1923 in the wearing of copes by the celebrants for the first time since the Reformation.
In 1915 also Sunday evening services were introduced. (fn. 661) By 1926 the annual stipends of the six
lay vicars had been raised to £115 each, and that of
the organist to £330, while three vicars choral had
£340 each. By 1952 the organist had £500, the
assistant organist £145, and the six lay vicars £968
between them. (fn. 662) The vicars choral had been reduced from four to three in 1917, when they had
agreed to give part of the fourth vicar's stipend to
the choristers' school, which was in financial difficulties. (fn. 663) In 1928, however, the chapter sanctioned
a scheme for new buildings which allowed the head
master to accept boarders in addition to the choristers, and the school again became prosperous and
self-supporting. (fn. 664) The most pressing constitutional
problems were still the continued existence of the
corporation of vicars choral and the need for new
statutes. With the passage of the Enabling Act of
1919, it seemed possible that the chapter's solutions
for these might become law. In 1926 the Cathedral Commissioners heard the representations of
Dr. Stanley Baker, procurator of the vicars choral,
on behalf of the corporation, and pronounced that
he had advanced no strong arguments for its continuance, whereas the bishop and dean and chapter
had both urged its dissolution. (fn. 665) Finally, under the
Cathedrals Measure of 1931, the property of the
Salisbury vicars choral was transferred to the dean
and chapter in 1934 and the corporation dissolved
in 1935, along with minor corporations of other
English cathedrals, subject to the rights of existing
members. This prepared the way for new statutes
which were confirmed by the king in 1937. (fn. 666)
They provided for not less than two vicars
choral to be paid and appointed by the dean and
chapter for periods not exceeding ten years in
the first instance, with the possibility of reappointment for subsequent periods of not more than
five years. Thus the vicars finally lost all the privileges of appointment for life, separate property,
and corporate independence, for which their
predecessors had fought so hard in the Middle
Ages.
These, however, were the biggest changes made
in the new statutes, and cannot be described as
startling or revolutionary, for they had been advocated by the chapter for over a century and
were in any case largely a natural result of the
gradual fall in the vicars' numbers since the late
15th century, and of the changed needs of the
choir. Other changes illustrate further the adaptation of the cathedral constitution to new needs and
conditions, and in most cases merely gave the
force of law to practices which had already become
customary. The strengthening of the bishop's
rights at the cathedral had become desirable when
bishops were more often present at their cathedral
and when the cathedral was more used for diocesan
work. Therefore the bishop was now to have the
right, on giving reasonable notice to the dean, to
celebrate Holy Communion and to preach in the
cathedral when he pleased, and to use any part of
the cathedral for synods, visitations, ordinations,
confirmations, or other special services; to order
the form of these services and to appoint the
preachers, so long as the cost did not fall on the
chapter's revenues. The dean's greater authority
resulted from the reduction in numbers of the
cathedral clergy and the greater centralization of
the constitution, which again had been proceeding
since the Reformation. The new and more exacting rules for canonical residence reflected the more
conscientious practice of residence which had developed during the last 60 to 80 years. In future
a residentiary canon was forbidden to hold any
other benefice with his canonry except with the
bishop's consent in writing and was bound to two
kinds of annual residence at the cathedral: first
his three months' 'close residence', when he was
officially 'canon in residence' in charge of the
cathedral services; secondly, a further period of
five months' 'open residence', when he was to be
diligent in attending the services. The rights and
privileges of the non-residents, which had been in
danger of disappearing altogether, were carefully
set out and defined; arrangements were made for
paying their expenses when they came to perform
their duties at the cathedral; three small prebends
had been re-endowed for canons doing religious,
educational, or administrative work in the diocese.
Phrases or ideas taken from St. Osmund's Institution, Richard Poore's Consuetudinary, and Roger
Mortival's Constitutions appeared particularly in
the descriptions of the functions and duties of the
dignitaries and officers. Moreover, although the
new code gave a general view of the whole constitution in 25 chapters logically arranged, it made
no claim to completeness. The final paragraph
declared that Bishop Osmund's foundation charter
and all the ancient statutes and customs were
continued and confirmed, unless inconsistent with
the present statutes.
The cathedral's history is an impressive witness
to the strength of the foundations laid by St.
Osmund and his medieval successors. Throughout the centuries the chapter has shown itself
capable of astonishing resilience. Periods of
apparent decline have been followed by periods
of revival, although at no time has the picture of
cathedral life been revealed as entirely black or
white. Redeeming features have been found in
centuries generally looked on as periods of decline,
and disappointing ones in those usually described
as prosperous and progressive. The strength of the
constitution has largely made possible the successive spiritual revivals, by preserving the organization through periods of decline or inertia until
better use could be made of it. At all times the
constitution has been found capable of adaptation
to changing needs and conditions. In 1954 the
whole organization is established on a smaller and
much less wealthy scale than ever before. The
chapter is far less independent of outside control
than it has ever been. Probably its biggest contribution to the Church and society was made in
the Middle Ages. Yet in recent years, without
any adequate financial means of its own, it has
successfully achieved costly repairs to the cathedral
fabric which have included the preservation of the
tower and spire. Voluntary contributions have
come in response to its appeals, not merely from
the diocese, but from all parts of the country and
from overseas; particularly interesting is the support of the Friends of Salisbury Cathedral, the
20th-century organization which has in part taken
the place of the medieval confraternity of the
chapter. (fn. 667)
DEANS OF SALISBURY
Walter, first dean. (fn. 668)
? Osbert, obit celebrated 22 Feb. (fn. 669)
Robert, died 1111. (fn. 670)
Serlo, occurs 1122. (fn. 671)
Roger, occurs c. 1122-31 to 1139. (fn. 672)
Azo, by 1139 until c. 1145-8. (fn. 673)
Robert, occurs from 1148, (fn. 674) consecrated Bp.
of Exeter 1155. (fn. 675)
Henry de Beaumont, c. 1155, consecrated Bp.
of Bayeux 1164. (fn. 676)
John of Oxford, nominated 1165, (fn. 677) election
annulled by Pope June 1166, (fn. 678) confirmed
by Pope Nov. or Dec. 1166, (fn. 679) consecrated
Bp. of Norwich 1175. (fn. 680)
Jordan, occurs from 1176 to c. 1193. (fn. 681)
Eustace, occurs 1195, (fn. 682) consecrated Bp. of Ely
1198. (fn. 683)
Richard Poore, S.T.P., made dean 1198, (fn. 684)
consecrated Bp. of Chichester 1215. (fn. 685)
Adam, occurs from 1215, died 1220. (fn. 686)
Master William de Wanda, elected 1220, (fn. 687)
occurs until 1236. (fn. 688)
Master Robert de Hertford, occurs from
1238, (fn. 689) died 1257. (fn. 690)
Master Robert de Wickhampton, occurs from
1259, elected Bp. of Salisbury 1271. (fn. 691)
Master Walter Scammell, elected 1271, but
does not occur as dean until after May
1274, (fn. 692) consecrated Bp. of Salisbury 1284. (fn. 693)
Master Henry de Brandeston, occurs 1285, (fn. 694)
consecrated Bp. of Salisbury 1287. (fn. 695)
Simon de Micham, S.T.P., elected 1287, (fn. 696)
occurs until 1295. (fn. 697)
Peter of Savoy, occurs from 1297 to 1309. (fn. 698)
William Rufati, provided 1309. (fn. 699)
Reymund de Fargis, called de Got or de
la Goth, provided 1311, (fn. 700) died by 5 Oct.
1346. (fn. 701)
Bertrand de Fargis, provided 1346, died by
26 Feb. 1347. (fn. 702)
Master Reynold Orsini (de filiis Ursi, Fitz
Urse), provided 1347, (fn. 703) died 1374. (fn. 704)
James Orsini, D.Can.L., occurs 1374 and
1378, (fn. 705) fruits of deanery restored to him
after seizure into king's hands, Feb. 1379, (fn. 706)
died Aug. 1379. (fn. 707)
Robert Braybrook, B.C.L., elected 1380, (fn. 708)
consecrated Bp. of London 1382. (fn. 709)
Master Thomas Montagu, Lic. Can. L.,
Lic. C.L., elected 1382, (fn. 710) died 1404. (fn. 711)
Master John Chandler, elected 1404, (fn. 712) consecrated Bp. of Salisbury 1417. (fn. 713)
Simon Sydenham, D.C.L., elected 1418, (fn. 714) consecrated Bp. of Chichester 1431. (fn. 715)
Thomas Brown, D.C.L., D.Can. L., elected
1431, (fn. 716) consecrated Bp. of Rochester 1435. (fn. 717)
Master Nicholas Bildeston, elected 1435, died
1441. (fn. 718)
Adam Moleyns, D.C.L., elected 1441, (fn. 719) consecrated Bp. of Chichester 1446. (fn. 720)
Master Richard Leyot, elected 1446, died
1449. (fn. 721)
Gilbert Kymer, M.A., B.C.L., M.D., elected
1449, (fn. 722) died 1463. (fn. 723)
James Goldwell, D.C.L., elected 1463, (fn. 724) consecrated Bp. of Norwich 1472. (fn. 725)
Master John Davison, elected 1473, died
1485. (fn. 726)
Edward Cheyne, D.C.L., D.Can.L., elected
1486, died 1502. (fn. 727)
Thomas Ruthall, D.Can.L., elected 1502, (fn. 728)
consecrated Bp. of Durham 1509. (fn. 729)
William Atwater, S.T.P., elected 1509, (fn. 730) consecrated Bp. of Lincoln 1514. (fn. 731)
John Longland, S.T.P., elected 1514, (fn. 732) consecrated Bp. of Lincoln 1521. (fn. 733)
Cuthbert Tunstall, D.C.L., elected 1521, (fn. 734)
consecrated Bp. of London 1522. (fn. 735)
Master Richard Pace, elected 1523, (fn. 736) died by
20 July 1536. (fn. 737)
Master Peter Vannes, occurs from 1536 to
1549. (fn. 738)
Master Thomas Cole, said to have been dean
temp. Edw. VI. (fn. 739)
Master Peter Vannes, occurs again 1552 and
1556, (fn. 740) resigned 1563. (fn. 741)
William Bradbridge, B.D., appointed 1563, (fn. 742)
consecrated Bp. of Exeter 1571. (fn. 743)
Edmund Freke, D.D., appointed 1570, (fn. 744) consecrated Bp. of Rochester 1572. (fn. 745)
John Piers, D.D., appointed 1572, (fn. 746) consecrated Bp. of Rochester 1576, but held
deanery in commendam until translated to
bishopric of Salisbury 1577. (fn. 747)
John Bridges, D.D., appointed 1578, (fn. 748) consecrated Bp. of Oxford 1604. (fn. 749)
John Gordon, D.D., appointed 1604, (fn. 750) died
1619. (fn. 751)
John Williams, D.D., appointed 1619, (fn. 752) appointed Dean of Westminster 1620. (fn. 753)
John Bowle, D.D., appointed 1620, (fn. 754) consecrated Bp. of Rochester 1630. (fn. 755)
Edmund Mason, D. D., appointed 1630, (fn. 756) died
1634-5. (fn. 757)
Richard Bayley, D. D., appointed 1635, (fn. 758) property sequestrated before 1646, (fn. 759) restored by
13 Sept. 1660, (fn. 760) died 1667. (fn. 761)
Ralph Brideoake, D.D., appointed 1667, (fn. 762)
consecrated Bp. of Chichester 1675. (fn. 763)
Thomas Pierce, D.D., appointed 1675, (fn. 764) died
1691. (fn. 765)
Robert Woodward, D.C.L., appointed 1691, (fn. 766)
died 1702. (fn. 767)
Edward Young, B.C.L., appointed 1702, (fn. 768) died
1705. (fn. 769)
John Younger, D.D., appointed 1705, died
1728. (fn. 770)
John Clarke, D.D., appointed 1728, died
1757.
Thomas Greene, D.D., appointed 1757, died
1780.
Rowney Noel, D.D., appointed 1780, died
1786.
John Eykins, D.D., appointed 1786, died 1808.
Charles Talbot, B.D., appointed 1809, died
1823.
Hugh Nicholas Pearson, D.D., appointed
1823, resigned 1846.
Francis Lear, D. D., appointed 1846, died
1850.
Henry Parr Hamilton, M.A., appointed 1850,
died 1880.
George David Boyle, M.A., appointed 1880,
died 1901.
Allan Becher Webb, D.D., appointed 1901,
died 1907.
William Page Roberts, D.D., appointed 1907,
resigned 1919.
Andrew Ewbank Burn, D.D., appointed 1920,
died 1927.
John Hugh Granville Randolph, D.D., appointed 1928, resigned 1935.
Edward Lowry Henderson, M. A., appointed
1936, resigned 1943.
Henry Charles Robins, M. A., appointed 1943,
resigned 1952.
Robert Hamilton Moberly, M. A., appointed
1952.
The chapter's earliest known seal is the 'old
bone seal', which was condemned in 1214. (fn. 771) An
impression of it, dating probably from Bishop
Jocelin's time (1142-84), is in the Cathedral
library at Salisbury. (fn. 772) It is a pointed oval measuring 2¾ × 17/8 in. It shows the Virgin crowned and
seated. Both her arms are raised from the elbow.
In her right hand is a fleur-de-lis sceptre. The
Child is sitting between her knees. The legend,
which is imperfect, reads:
SIG . . . SANCTE MARIE SAR . . . ECCLESIE.
In 1214 the dean and chapter made rules for the
use of two common seals: (fn. 773)
(1) the greater seal of the dean and chapter,
of which several 13th-century impressions
survive, including two dating from 1239
and 1266. (fn. 774) It is a pointed oval measuring
3×2 in. It shows the Virgin crowned and
seated under a plain trefoiled arch with a star
over her head. She holds the Child on her
left knee and He is reaching up towards the
fleur-de-lis sceptre which she holds in her
right hand. The perfect legend, as shown by
the several impressions together, is:
SIGILL' · SANCTE · MARIE · SARESB'IENSIS · ECCL'IE
The seal of Adam [de Esseby], the chancellor,
was used as a counter seal to this seal in 1239. (fn. 775)
It is a pointed oval measuring 17/8× 13/8 in., and
shows the chancellor sitting on a high-backed
chair under a trefoiled and pinnacled canopy
and on a foliated bracket. He is reading a
book lying on a lectern before him. The
legend reads:
SIGILL : ADE : CANCELLARII : SAR'
(2) the lesser seal ad citaciones. (fn. 776) Probably this
was the seal ad peticiones et ad causas, of which
several impressions survive from the 13th
century and later. (fn. 777) The bronze gilt matrix
was in use up to 1936. This seal is practically
the same shape and size as the chapter's greater
seal, being only slightly narrower: 3× 17/8 in.
The subject is the same, but more elaborately
executed: the crowned Virgin, with the Child
on her left knee, sits on a carved throne, from
which spring the slender shafts of a trefoiled
canopy with seven pinnacles. The bracket
beneath is deeply carved. On one side of the
Virgin's head is a new moon and on the other
a star. The legend reads:
S' · SBĒ · MARIE · SARESBIRIENSIS · ECBĒ · AD ·
PETICIONES · ET · AD · CĀĀI·
The common seal of the vicars choral dates probably from the 13th century. (fn. 778) It is a pointed oval,
measuring 21/8× 1 9/16; in. It shows the coronation
of the Virgin. The corbel in the base, on which
the two figures are supported, is ornamented with
an elegant flower. The legend reads:
S' COMMUNE VIC'RIOR' ECCL'E SARESBIRIENS' (fn. 779)
Other seals in the British Museum or Cathedral
library include the seal of an unidentified 14thcentury dean, an early 15th-century seal of the
office of dean, a 17th-century seal of the officiality
of the decanal jurisdiction, a 17th-century seal of
the communar of the dean and chapter, and several
seals of the prebendal jurisdictions and of individual dignitaries and prebendaries.